[Music] hello [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] look music and dance and storytelling are integral to everyday life music is used as a way of um actually handing down um all kinds of messages community messages life lessons african music permeates the many diverse cultures across the continent its traditions stretch back for centuries [Music] in west africa they have they have a uh something that's called the grio or the jolly or the jelly and it's essentially a person that is a custodian of of the tradition um of the culture and um they're a musician their responsibility their job their cast is actually to to spread the heritage and the messages of their ethnic groups so they do that through their songs when they're playing the music they sing they still they'll sing proverbs and they'll sing messages life lessons so in that way storytelling is actually handed down through music the same applies to the dancers as well ceremonies and events mark significant occasions in all cultures across africa music has always played a role in ceremonies that mark major stages of life the full cycle of life is encapsulated um by music and at every key junction in life birth baptism uh coming of age circumcision weddings and funerals all of these things are marked with very significant musical experiences you know you can't roll out a circumcision rhythm when someone's getting married you can't roll out a baptism rhythm when someone has just passed away so the significance of the music and the dancers that accompany those rhythms is really important for traditional africans life is hard and is simply about survival music is entrenched in everything when the rain comes when the harvest comes there is ceremony and as i've discussed when there is a ceremony there is music so you find that at these um harvest festivals at really significant moments um when when they when they when they pull the yam out of the ground you know the root plants the cassava when they pull it out of the ground they have these really significant um festivals and and the the dancers in the um in the community wear these big masks uh in huge beautifully ornate masks they put them on their heads and they dance these traditional dances all over africa music is intrinsic to religious and spiritual beliefs animism and other traditional beliefs have been a part of life for thousands of years particularly in villages and areas away from major population centres other religions predominantly islam and christianity over a number of centuries have influenced cultural and music traditions all over the continent music and and uh religious beliefs are you know inextricably intertwined i mean they go hand in hand certainly animus belief which is the pre-islam and pre-christian christianity movement since the missionaries came in to parts of africa the animus belief is still strong very strong in certain countries less strong than others the rhythms the rhythms that are associated and the music that's associated with the traditional animus belief are still played and they call them fetish rhythms the old fetish rhythms are ancient rhythms that um really come from uh thousands of years ago and have their roots embedded in paying homage to spirits to gods you know when i say gods i mean water gods i mean air gods i mean animal gods little in the way of traditional african music and musicianship has been written down over the years musical traditions are passed from one generation to another the traditions of music get get passed through the african societies just like um i suppose you know in western culture how certain trades are passed down through generations you know you might hear a bloke saying look my father is a bricklayer his father was a bricklayer well this you know the same thing happens in west africa the griot that i talked of earlier the the cultural custodians um it's it's all about bloodline and lineage so they passed down their tradition through their um through their subsequent generations [Music] different styles of african music highlight different instruments drums and other percussive instruments play a big part in creating rhythms the range and diversity is huge the airway people they they have an array of drums that um are called a family of drums from the mother whose short stumpy drum that's pregnant to the father who's a bit taller and leaner to the little kid drums their khans have their own drums as well so all these different ethnic groups have their different array of drums and they're all played slightly differently and they're all have their very specific rhythms that go with those particular drums west african music in particular is heavily percussive an incredible diversity of drums and other percussion instruments creates complex rhythms the senegalese also they have a very strong tradition in sabah drumming which is a stick and hand technique they also play talking drum in particular a tama and they also play the gem bay the gem bay is one of the best known african drums it looks a bit like an oversized goblet and is made by stretching goat skin over a carved hollow trunk the francophone countries as opposed to the british colonized country so the french colonised countries are the ones that sort of have led the gembe culture you know you're talking about mali burkina faso ivory coast guinea these countries have been the ones that have put the the gem bay on the map in west africa and other parts of the continent vocal music is prominent and is characterized by beautiful harmonies traditional um west african polyrhythmic percussive based music which also has a lot of vocal harmony as well that's something that's very strong in countries like ghana vocal harmonies i suppose are also very strong in in in places like south africa south africa yeah where capella music is is obviously one of the dominating musical forms there um the south africans you know they tour around the world there's great huge choirs um and they're they're very much renowned for that stringed instruments have been played in africa for many centuries they are still popular today in contemporary african music over the past couple of centuries a greater diversity of stringed and other instruments have been adopted from western cultures and you know guitars are a huge part of west african music these days and and they've you know obviously western music has had a big influence in bringing over their instrumentation to to africa and um horns a big big part of the the landscape in in african music these days you know in ethiopia in the east beautiful horns played [Music] right through africa there's a strong a strong um culture in horn playing and that that has been brought there with the missionaries as well the missionaries obviously you know the gospel music and the and the marching bands you know from the from the british they brought that influence in and that's filtered through into contemporary african music as well some western instruments are actually derived from traditional african instruments when you look at the instrumentation if you go right back to the to the inception of jazz and blues in in you know southern parts of uh america and you see the banjo and where it came from i mean it's it's a it's a direct descendant of a gambian loot other instruments used in african music include the balafon which is similar to a xylophone thumb piano flute and reed pipes i think diversity is the key word when it comes to uh music traditional african music and non-traditional african music uh certainly you know depending on what which country you're in you'll get a very different kind of music [Music] the west of africa is very different to the south very different to the east and the central parts of africa as well many different styles of african music are characterized by distinctive rhythms created by a prominence of drums and percussion african rhythms are structured differently than much of the music we may be more familiar with you know the circle natural circular time not having to be embedded by the one the two and the three and the four we all go off to a concert you know we've been brought up on a diet of four four four you know we're all very much embedded on the downbeat well in west africa they have this beautiful sort of understanding of music being very circular and the offbeat being as dominant as the downbeat and so they move to a different they move to a different pulse than us and it's a more sophisticated um appreciation of time [Music] some western music has drawn on the influence of african rhythms in particular [Music] traditional african music has influenced jazz and blues heavily i mean it really the roots of jazz and blues have come through through west africa in particular with the slave trade lit over a million um slaves left africa and that african diaspora which landed in the americas and latin america essentially um provided the the roots of jazz and blues [Music] certain characteristic vocal styles are notable in african music including a cappella which is unaccompanied vocals [Music] vocals accompanied by music are also common both styles are often presented as solos duets [Music] the response generally remains the same throughout a song while the vocals sung by the soloist leader may be improvised glissandos or vocal slides yodles whistles slurs and sloops are other characteristics of african vocal music [Music] over the past five or six decades a range of hybrid musical styles have come from africa they reflect both african traditional music and the influence of other cultures all these sort of hybrid styles you get coming out of west africa felicity in the 70s in nigeria his afro-beat movement was essentially this wonderful hybrid of traditional rhythm and um and jazz today in ghana we have these these styles like hip life which are a hybrid of of um hip hop and high life now high life's another form of of traditional music that was morphed in the 70s as well in ghana so all the way along the line you see these these traditional beds um getting sort of morphed with these new styles that have come from other parts of of the world um and and are spawning new styles of music african music continues to evolve while contemporary musicians might make use of instruments and technology unheard of in previous generations the inherent love of music and the dominant part it plays in all aspects of life will remain for generations to come as we all know in this day and age the world is becoming a smaller place isn't it with technology and um it's and the africans just there innate um innate feel for music they're always looking to especially the new generations they're always looking to put their own spice on tradition [Music]